Sometimes you catch sideshow participants, sometimes you don't

Somewhere in San Joaquin County late Saturday night, a dozen marked law enforcement vehicles lay in wait along a narrow dirt road deep within an orchard.

Christian Burkin

Somewhere in San Joaquin County late Saturday night, a dozen marked law enforcement vehicles lay in wait along a narrow dirt road deep within an orchard.

There was no light except for glowing cigarette tips and quick flashlight flickers, and little noise outside of a few idling engines and a steady stream of hushed wisecracks.

"This is the safest road in the county," quipped one officer, prompting a brief burst of laughter.

These officers, from the California Highway Patrol, Stockton and Manteca police departments and the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, were just one part of a multi-agency enforcement operation targeting street racing and sideshows throughout the county.

Officers spent roughly three weeks preparing for Saturday night's CHP-led mission, which started at 8 p.m. and finished at 3 a.m. Sunday. Their work included gathering intelligence, scouting target locations, mapping routes and coordinating between agencies. It was the first time that law enforcement agencies in San Joaquin County had cooperated on such a large operation, said CHP Officer Adrian Quintero, a spokesman for the CHP's Stockton-area office.

Last week, Gov. Schwarzengger's signing of a bill allowed peace officers to confiscate vehicles belonging to those suspected of involvement in sideshow activity and to hold them for up to 30 days at the owner's expense. The bill, sponsored by State Senate Leader Don Perata, D-East Bay, further stipulates that owners can retrieve their vehicles free of charge before the 30 days are up if they can prove they were not involved or aware the vehicle was being used in illegal activity.

In July, a similar Stockton ordinance was struck down by the California Supreme Court, which ruled such power was reserved for the state.

But there were no confiscations this weekend.

While the marked teams waited to pounce, undercover officers from the Stockton Police Department and the San Joaquin Delta Regional Auto Theft Task Force, or DeltaRATT, monitored several sites in the county, waiting for just the right level of mischief to call them in.

A few cars swung by the hide sites - burning rubber, spinning and doing donuts - but never enough to justify springing the trap and scaring off the real crowd, officers said.

This kind of operation can be frustrating and often fruitless, but it's the best way to hook their wary targets, said CHP Lt. Jonni Fisher.

The people who are heavily involved in street racing are sophisticated, Quintero said. They use scanners, they communicate with each other rapidly and effectively - and will warn others at any hint of the law.

"We have to be more proactive than reactive," Fisher said. "It just happened that they weren't out there tonight. It's pretty much hit or miss."